By now there must've been a hundred minions spiraling over him, pouring in gouts of Elemental Electricity and Fire, feeding a raging storm. With Zane at the center.
But then the clouds began to cave in. A heavy aura cut through. There was a crack of lightning, and the silhouette of a massive body flashed into view. Something serpentine, mind-bogglingly long, a dragon-like head studded with long whiskers...
It sank beneath the cloud layer.
๐ผ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ป๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ (๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐
Its scales were pure white. Its eyes an icy blue. Lightning sizzled along its coiling body. Its many, many stubby legs walked down the ridges of the cloudsโฆ
It bellowed.
"It's one of the final Bosses!" yelped Becca. The force of its bellow knocked her mount sideways; she had to struggle to stay upright. "But look at Zaneโhe isn't even moving!"
"C'mon, Zane!" said Tyler through gritted teeth. "You've got to get going!"
"It's got thirty Levels on him!" said Becca. "Zane might've gotten tougher, but even he can't justโ"
The Thunder Dragon opened its maw.
A world of lightning gushed out.
Pure Elemental Lightning, concentrated like none of them had ever seenโso powerful it was one pure pillar-like beam.
Zane didn't have time to run. Didn't even have time to react. It blasted him right in the face.
The commentators gasped. So did the B-teamโand the millions watching from around the worldโฆ
Lightning smashed all over himโand he jerked.
He spasmed. Little cuts opened up all over him. His muscles locked tight...
When the light-beam faded, there Zane was. Smoking a little. Bleeding a little. Spasming a little.
But that was all.
"... That's it?!" gasped Tyler.
"Look at the Thunder Dragonโlook at its face!" cried Becca. "It's baffled! It just threw its best shot, and it hardly did anything!"
Just then there came a deepthroated roar. It sounded like the earth was splitting open at the seams. And a beast of black and red rose out of the magma. A wingless dragon made out of pure craggy brimstone, lightly smoking. Its eyes blazed a deep angry red.
๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐ (๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ)
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐
"It's the other final Bossโthey've both come to finish him!" roared Tyler. "And Zane still hasn't moved an inchโhe's giving it no respect whatsoever!"
The Magma Dragon opened its cannon-like mouth. And out shot a funnel of Elemental Fire, wreathed in thick smoke. It looked like a volcano erupting sideways.
But it also couldn't seem to make much progress. It reddened Zane's skin. Left some fresh scorch marks down his broad chest. That was all.
"That's just absurdโฆ" croaked Tyler.
Then the rest of the Monsters started joining in.
The Thunder Dragon let out another bellowโand added its lightning to the mix.
So did all their minions in their dozens, pouring in rivers of essence, all hell-bent on destroying one manโ
"No freaking way," said Tyler. "Can he really take all of that?! Thatโthat shouldn't even be possible!"
As it turned out, Zane couldn't.
Zane's big body started to smolder. His skin began to tear, redden, scorch. Melt offโexposing the raw flesh beneath...
"Oh, no..." said Tyler.
"It's too much," cried Becca. "Even for Zane! He's got to do something!"
But Zane still didn't.
"Maybe he can't?" said Tyler. "It must feel like being pressed under a mountain in thereโjust look at all that essence! Good godโhow's he still holding up?! Pretty much every other World Ranker would be a heap of ash by now!"
Meanwhile, a few hundred feet beneathโ
"The Savage Sage needs our help!" roared Cain. His mustache bristled valiantly. "He came for us in our time of need. It's time for us to repay him!"
The rest of the B-Team nodded, faces set. They all looked nervously at that essence maelstrom. It'd be like walking into a meat grinder. But they all gritted their teeth. Burly, Urs, Langaker gave a solid grunt. Vanessa and Sylvia firmed their lips.
They marched their way up.
They only got a dozen feet in.
Just the terrain was punishing enough. They had to fend off gale-force winds of Fire and Electricityโthen the minions took notice. Drakes poured out of the lava, blasting tidal waves of Elemental Fire. Thunderbirds spewed waterfalls of lightningโ
The B-Team tried and tried. But they soon found themselves forced back step by step...
"Look at Zane!" said Becca. "This is badโhe's really starting to feel it!"
IndeedโZane's face, reddened and peeling, was stuck in a deep frown...
***
One person who promised herself she wouldn't be watching was Reina. She knew it'd be way too stressful for her. She knew he'd be trying it between two of her scheduled work meetingsโso she'd locked herself in a room with a bunch of chess puzzles to work through to keep her occupied.
This lasted about ten minutes.
Then there came a cry from her safe room.
A moment later the lock blasted open. Reina broke out and got the transmission crystal in their bedroom online.
Now she was on the bed hugging a pillow, making little strained noises. Watching Zane take it head-on.
***
Zane was feeling it.
The way the two Elements came together. The burning passion of fire, and the hyper-excitement of electricityโthe point at which they met.
It was a heat like he'd never felt beforeโfar hotter than just the two of them combined... they made something new.
Something sparking all over him right now.
He got just a glimpse of it, like he was seeing it from far away... he had to 'squint' a little to feel it. He got the feeling this Electricity and this Fireโas rich as it wasโstill wasn't as pure, as dense, as it could be. The Plasma was barely there.
But it'd be enough. He just had to wrap his head around it.
So he let it play across his body, soak his mind utterly... the burning crackling pain was just a background hum to him. It felt like being cattle branded and electrocuted at once, which was not something most folk could stand for more than a few seconds. For Zane it was somewhat unpleasant. It faded away pretty easily.
He focused on the Concept withinโฆ
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐!
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐%
He could feel it starting to melt him.
But he could also feel that Concept coming closer and closer into viewโcould feel the nature of that superhot thing, that sliver of in-between, imprinting itself on his mind... He almost had itโhe just neededโjust neededโ
He let it keep going, still frowning.
Soonโ
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐!
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐%
He felt he had to reach deeper to get thisโuse a higher, more strenuous part of his 'soul-brain.' It was straining on him in a way getting Minor Laws weren't.
It felt deeper than just normal fatigueโalmost like a backlash was building up against his soul.
He felt like he was trying to wrestle a secret away from the universe. A bigger secret than any he'd gotten beforeโand it fought so much harder to keep it away from him.
That strange pain just kept building in his soul the more he reached. He felt like his soul was being stretched at the seams, stretched far beyond anything it was used to. It was starting to wear on him...
He could tell it wasn't the kind of thing he could recover from in a few daysโlike with Major Laws.
But Zane was fine with it. He noticed since his soul was bigger, it healed faster too. And it'd be worth it anyway.
And he felt so closeโhe felt it flickering at the edge of his mind...
Nearly all his flesh had melted off his body. There was just hard bone and muscle leftโhe was exposed like an anatomy chart.
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐๐!
โ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐%
Then the backlash crashed over him like a cresting wave.
And instantly and violently, he was thrown out of his Law trance.
The world swam before him; he spat out a gout of blood.
He gasped. He'd really pushed himself to the edge there.
But even greater than the pain was a spark. A shining spark hovering in the middle of his mind...
He let out a bloody smile.
โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฅ โ๐ ๐๐ก๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!
๐๐๐ โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ฅ ๐ ๐ โ๐๐๐ค๐๐
And the moment it happened, power exploded out of his body. A blinding sphere of it. Not even a real Techniqueโjust a backlash, something unleashed as a new power made its presence knownโฆ
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐๐!
โ๐ค๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ [ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐๐๐+ (๐) ] -> ๐๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ฃ๐ [ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ (๐ผ) โ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ช ]
Everything was blasted away.
True Stormfire graced this world for the very first time.
The lightning-fire tornado falling over him was swamped by a brightest white-blue. Stormfire got hold of it, so bright, so stark a color it was burned into the eyes of all who saw itโeven when they closed they blinked. It brighter to the eyes, sureโbut it was so much brighter to the soul. The sheer power of it, the sheer heat, the passionโit made Pseudo-Stormfire seem like a candle next to a bonfire.
That tornado roasted so fast it was gone in two blinks.
The circle of blue-white spread all around him. And everything it touched went to ashโthe horde of Monsters, dozens upon dozens of Level 130 behemoths, were simply wiped. Like dinosaurs beneath an extinction meteor.
It touched the Bosses too. Those Level 160 Bosses' snakelike eyes widened; their jaws unhinged in silent horror. Their scales didn't even have time to burn properly. Everything true Stormfire touched went to smoke. That storming light ran through them, turned solid to liquid to gas, a single burning, flickering, crackling line sweeping left-to-rightโerasing them utterly. Like the hand of some cruel god reached down and swatted them out of existence.
A line of fire so intense it was as though it'd been drawn out of the center of the sun. Nothing earthly could resist it...
This was a kind of Law none of them had ever seen.
And the man at the center of it all opened his eyes.
Black pupils wreathed in a flickering stark blue light...
***
Slowly, blinking, Zane stood.
He glanced down. His leather shortsโA-rank treasuresโwere ruined.
Aww.
He liked those shorts.
The trousers beneath, luckily, were still there; they were made for modesty's sake, spelled to let everything pass through. Which was the only thing that saved them.
The rest of him was pretty ruined thoughโfor a moment.
Then his body went up in flame. All of it.
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐๐!
๐ฝ๐๐๐ฃ๐ช โ๐๐๐๐จ๐๐ [๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ โ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐๐๐ -> ๐ผ๐๐ฃ๐ฅ๐ โ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐]
He went up in pure Stormfire. So strong, so pure it was a solid thing. A new, purer, stronger Elementโan Element that burned with a joy, an energy like no otherโฆ
A brand-new Element endowed with the power of Plasma.
Fiery Renewal felt like being run through a very hot sauna now. A good kind of pain. If Zane wanted, he could pour in essenceโand Plasma would let him ratchet the heat upโhow hot even he wasn't sure.
What he was sure of. He hadn't met a single thing yet that could stand up to this.
He marveled at it as it played across his body. Fixing him up at astonishing speed. It wasn't long at all before his skin was spotless again, flush with healthโ
It kept going. Kept burning. He blinked.
He pressed down with his soul. It bucked ferociouslyโso hard it almost threw him off; so hard it almost started roasting him. He frowned, forced it flatโ
It vanished.
He let out a breath.
This Stormfireโฆ letting it run wild was the easy bit. Controlling it was something else. It was a hunger that knew no end; the more it ate, the hungrier it got.
He crushed the last of it between his fingertips. Maybe it was like breaking a stallion like Patriarch Azure Flame said. He hoped riding it would get easier as he got used to it.
If those Minor Laws had been like taking short breaks between sprints, this felt like being at the end of an ultra-marathon. He wasn't just done. He was done.
But he was very satisfied. He'd gotten what he came for.
He didn't expect to have to do this kind of hardcore comprehension for a while. He figured now was a good time to shore up his Levels and Skills, prepare for the S-Rank and the Superdungeon, that kind of thingโฆ
He looked up.
The last of the essence poured into him. The battle was over.
๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ก!
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ -> ๐๐๐ก
๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ก!
๐ผ๐ค๐ค๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐ก -> ๐๐๐
The clouds were splitting open. A shaft of sunlight fell through, pooling over himโฆ
***
"They'reโฆ all goneโฆ" choked Tyler.
"Did Zane Walker just achieve Fusion?!" cried Becca. "That's supposed to be the bottleneck for Level 200โand he's cleared it already!"
"The Savage Sage's just in a league of his own right now," said Tyler. "When it comes to Law, no one's even close!"
They stared at the burning pyre that'd once been Zane Walker. It was his Skill fixing him up.
When it faded, he was whole again.
The sky was clearing. The sun was coming out. A ray of sunlight slashed through the black clouds, falling just so over Zane Walker. Highlighting a powerful, sculpted, magnificent bodyโit was like something out of a Renaissance painting. But rather than being fully naked like in those paintings, a strip of cloth covered a conspicuously large bulge.
For a moment he stood there in an accidental pose, staring up at the heavens.
Everyone watchingโthe commentatorsโthe B-Teamโwere all rather dumbstruck.
Then Zane blinked, looked aroundโlike he was noticing everyone gaping at him for the first time.
"Oh," he said. He scratched his head looking baffled, which somewhat ruined the image.
"Hey," he said.
He stood there, as though waiting for someone to say something. No one did.
"Uh," said Zane. "I'm going to get the dungeon chest now."
He turned and left.